Trial witnesses included Belgian Police Superintendent Theiry Meunier, who described his experience with one of McCormick’s devices.

“It was not only the cheapest machine, it was the only machine,” Meunier said. “We had no results from it. We tried to use the device for detecting drugs in cars for several months. We also provided the detector to detectives seeking to detect drugs. The results again were negative.”

McCormick, who lives in the Bath area, went on trial in March after a three-year investigation by Avon and Somerset police.

Investigators said he put lives at risk by selling a device that might give security officers a false sense of confidence.

While McCormick has continued to maintain his devices do the job they were supposed to, police, prosecutors and unhappy customers say they are simply golf-ball detectors given a fancy look and fancy marketing.

There’s some sort of object lesson inside this farce. Maybe something to do with the folks in charge of detecting crime, providing security against fraud – unable to figure out on the spot when they’re being hustled, eh?